In the past, there has been proposed a manual disconnecting switch used for a circuit provided with a high-voltage battery (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-134698). This disconnecting switch includes: a contact part that is disposed in a closed vessel and that has a stationary contact and a movable contact configured to be brought into contact with and separate from the stationary contact freely; a shaft which is disposed so that a part thereof protrudes outward from the closed vessel; and a metal bellows for ensuring air tightness of the closed vessel. This disconnecting switch further includes: an open/close mechanism part configured to move the shaft back and forth freely between a closed contact position at which the movable contact is in contact with the stationary contact and an open contact position at which the movable contact is out of contact from the stationary contact; and a housing that houses above components. The open/close mechanism part is constituted by an operation lever which is disposed so that an operation portion thereof protrudes outward from the housing, and two rod-shaped arms which connect the operation lever and the shaft so as to move the shaft between the closed contact position and the open contact position according to an operation of the operation lever.
In this disconnecting switch, when the operation lever is positioned at an OFF position where the contact part is in an open contact state, the two arms are held in a state of forming a V-shape under an inner pressure of the closed vessel and a spring force of the metal bellows, and the contact part is thereby held in the open contact state. Further, when the operation lever is positioned at an ON position where the contact part is in a closed contact state, the two arms are held in a state of forming a reversed V-shape under the inner pressure of the closed vessel and the spring force of the metal bellows, and the contact part is thereby held in the closed contact state.
However, in the disconnecting switch shown in an above Patent Document 1, there has been a problem that the disconnecting switch has a large size because there needs a moving space for the two arms which connect the operation lever and the shaft and which are designed to rotate in opposite directions in conjunction with each other.